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UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 15225 / January 22, 1997
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Gary W. Berus, Patricia S.
Gale, Robert W. Harper and Nancy A. Swoffer, (United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Civil Action
No. 96-CV-74524)
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on
January 3, 1997, Judge Nancy G. Edmunds of the United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered
Orders of Permanent Injunction (Orders) against Gary W. Berus
(Berus) and Ronald W. Harper (Harper) enjoining them from further
violations of Sections 17(a)(1), 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the
Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder and ordering an
accounting, disgorgement and civil penalties. The Court will set
the specific amount of disgorgement and civil penalties in a
subsequent hearing. Berus and Harper consented, without
admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission's
complaint, to the entry of the Order.
The Complaint, filed on September 30, 1996, alleged, among
other things, that during the period from 1990 through 1994,
Berus and Harper, along with their sales agents, defrauded a
total of approximately 120 investors through the offer and sale
of $3 million in securities. Specifically, Berus and Harper
offered and sold fictitious certificates of deposit (CDs) issued
by a purported international bank, Century Security Bank and
Trust, Ltd. (Century Security). Furthermore, in two separate
scams, Berus sold interests in the Profit Masters Group (Profit
Masters) and Meca International, Inc. (Meca), both were
investment clubs.
In connection therewith, CD investors were told that they
were purchasing variable rate CDs, with their money to be used by
Century Security to finance various business ventures.
Investment club investors were told that their funds would be
pooled to purchase common stocks. Depending on the investment
scam, investors were promised annual returns ranging from 8% to
24%. In return for the investments, Berus and Harper generally
sent investors confirmations for the funds invested and
fictitious monthly and/or annual account statements which lulled
investors into believing the legitimacy of the investments. In
addition, Berus and Harper sometimes paid investors purported
monthly interest on their investments, and, in some instances,
returns of portions of their principal.
Despite the above representations regarding Century
Security, Profit Masters and Meca, however, Berus and Harper did
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not invest the money as represented. Instead, Berus and Harper,
in connection with Century Security, and Berus, in connection
with Profit Masters and Meca, simply operated separate "ponzi"
schemes. In each of the three schemes, investor money was
deposited into brokerage
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accounts, bank accounts and a credit union account, all of which
Berus and/or Harper controlled. Undisclosed to investors, Berus
and Harper then used investor funds to pay personal and business
expenses, to make payments to prior investors and to
unsuccessfully trade in speculative investments, including
commodity futures and options. Consequently, returns to existing
investors were dependent upon the ability of Berus and Harper to
continually raise additional funds from new investors.
Furthermore, in contravention to Berus' and Harper's
representations, Century Security was not even a legitimate
banking operation. Thus, in connection with the offer, purchase
and sale of securities, misrepresentations and omissions of
material fact were made regarding the legitimacy of the
investments, the returns to be expected, the risks involved, the
commissions received and the use of investor proceeds.